Iloam Blacksong
Basic Info Iloam Blacksong is a Blood Elf Rogue on the Shadow Council server in World of Warcraft. He is a well known assassin-for-hire and high-end designer mana peddler to Silvermoon's top paying buyers. Iloam also has talents in jeweling, antiques, and engineering and is sometimes called in to consult on business in these areas. His reputation most proceeds him in Silvermoon, Undercity, Booty Bay, and Shattrath (especially amongst the Scryers & Consortium). He also has past and whispered current ties to pirating, including captaining a ship called'' The Minotaur'' for the Chillwind Fleet - but it was rumored to have been sunk and the crew all killed. Iloam has taken part in a soul's marriage bond with his childhood friend, Kharris Dawndancer. Although the magic Elvish bond goes much deeper than Common words can express, for ease he frequently refers to her as his wife. Their gypsy blood, and Iloam's life of crime, means that the Blacksong's don't often live in one place for very long and have been known to have several homes that they alternate between. Iloam is almost constantly moving around and keeps an irregular schedule to prevent being easily tracked. He is known as being scruffy, but charming, and a highly effective covert operator. His abrasive, no-apologies approach earns him as much ire as it does affection as he quickly leaves an impression on all who meet him. The Kalder'Ash Clan Iloam Blacksong was born into a gypsy family of the Kalder'Ash Clan; made up of primarily Elvish, Human, and Dwarf families and including a smaller number of mixed-breed and Gnomish refuges. The Kalder’Ash were known for their traveling carnival and emphasis on trading and selling handmade artisan crafts. The clan traveled a large range circuit in the Eastern Kingdoms to small villages, but with larger documented stops in Tyr’s Hand and the city of Lordaeron. The symbol of the clan is a skull resting on a rose and it was tradition that all clan members tattoo this somewhere on their body when reaching puberty. This symbol was also often carved into the tree trunks of surrounding forest near the campsites they frequented throughout the years. It is unknown if this practice had superstitious or magical uses or was simply a marking of territory. The gypsies considered themselves a tight-knit family and were distrustful of outsiders as well as other clans of gypsies. They often fought amongst the clans they encountered as they were in stiff competition for work, gold, food, supplies, and possessions. The Kalder’Ash were a particularly old clan and held onto strong superstitions and customs, relying on old magic and beliefs with only a small amount of bastardizations of newer magics amongst the fringe individuals. New magic was frequently shunned or mocked, and therefore kept hidden from others. Iloam's bright ginger hair was seen as an omen of bad luck on an Elf and he was often blamed for accidents, mischief, or poor reception from local townsfolk. Other families forbid their children to play with him and he turned to bullying at a young age. He was turned away by adult clan members for odd jobs and was only able to work with his father. At a later age he formed an act with his younger brother, Keiran, as bards for young children. Family Maebh (Mother) Maebh performed as a fortuneteller using basic Trollish voodoo mixed with warlock spells gleaned from pilfered textbooks. Fel magic gone unchecked and undisciplined, her thirst for power and knowledge warped her mind and soul and after her first demon summoning, she quickly rose in stronger powers that expanded beyond her humble beginnings. Maebh also began a sexual relationship with her succubus, Verrine, kept secret from others in the Clan, but known to her family. Daigh Blacksong (Father) Daigh, an Elf, came from a mixed background with a Human grandfather, bringing in the name Blacksong to the lineage. Not originally a Roma, Daigh was working as a smithy in one of the small towns the Roma often came through. After falling in love with Maebh, he married her and left his town to travel with them. Never fully accepted as "a traveller," he was unwelcome at first, and the Clan superstitiously believed the Blacksong's were punished by the Old Gods with their unlucky copper-headed first born. Daigh did eventually begin to earn the good graces of the Clan as he kept a positive, friendly attitude and he was always available for hard labor. Daigh was naturally athletic and talented with a blacksmith's hammer, dabbled in engineering, and had a knack with horses. Keiran (Younger Brother) Keiran was born several years after Iloam and quickly became the favored son. Born with a full head of raven hair, just like his mother, he was embraced by both family and the clan in a way that Iloam never was. Gifted with his father's strength and athleticism, Keiran took to hunting, blacksmithing, and leatherwork and excelled easily in his studies with Iloam as they taught themselves to read and write in several languages (Thalassian, Common, and Dwarvish). Adoring of his older brother, Keiran taught himself to play the lyre and convinced Iloam to use his talented singing voice to form a bard act for the gypsy clan. History Childhood As a young child, Iloam was often left on his own due to being shunned by other children and prevented from apprenticing by the adults. Iloam took solace in the shadows and going unseen as he often kept to himself when he wasn’t bullying the other children. It was at a young age that he began to tap into the talents of stealth, but it would not be until later that he learned to harness and control this ability. Instead, he used his talents for stealing other children’s possessions and causing mischief. He committed his first murder of a small bird as a toddler. As punishment, his mother cast paranoia on his fragile young mind, creating a horrific hallucination of an enormous bird corpse attacking him. Even with the harsh punishment, Iloam’s urges were not quelled, and he continued to torture and kill small animals as he grew. Prevented from sporting with other children, Iloam instead turned to books and curiosities. He read vore-aciously and self-taught himself anything which held his interest, including fist combat and the art of slight-of-hand. He also had particular interests in history, engineering, and anatomical sciences. Although academically talented beyond his years, Iloam was certainly not a bookworm, and often wandered away from the Clan to get himself into adventures and test his physical boundaries. Most of his childhood was spent with scraped knees and sphincters. Disappointed with a cursed child, Iloam's mother struggled between her loyalty to the Roma and treating him with the same disdain of the other adults and her own mother's love. This tumultuous love/hate relationship continues to this day. Maebh emotionally as well as physically abused Iloam and as he reached puberty, she brought him into her sexual relationship with her succubus against his will. Although she never directly inflicted the same on her son Keiran, she did allow her succubus to manipulate Iloam into sexually abusing his younger sibling for the demon's pleasure. Iloam's first attempt to break away from his mother and form an emotional bond with another was his crush on Desdemona, a popular Naga/Human mixed breed fire dancer act for the Clan who went by the performance name of "The Dragon Lady". His pubescent feelings were transparent to the gypsies and his mother, who became jealous and vengeful. She murdered Desdemona and framed a local merchant couple by making it look as if Desdemona had been murdered by a jealous wife. The townspeople chased off the gypsies for causing strife amongst their village and the gypsies in turn blamed Iloam for bringing bad luck to Desdemona and their Clan with his attentions. Later, Maebh would reveal to Iloam that she had killed his first love to prove that he was only permitted to love her. The Dark Portal As the Dark Portal opened and bloodthirsty Orcs began to tear through the lands of Azeroth, terror and confusion broke out and word spread of dark-skinned monsters burning their way southwards. The Kalder’Ash Clan continued on with their circuit as long as possible until the villages they had visited for many years began to turn up ransacked and burned to the ground. The High Council members of the Clan decided to hold and the Clan put down roots for the first time, converting carriages and wagons into a makeshift village where they planned to hold until the word of an end to the violence would come. Fearful for their children, the Blacksong’s dug a hole into the ground and set their house ontop of it, creating a secret crawlspace to hide them in. Whenever word of impending attack came, the boys would be locked in the crawl space for their safety – sometimes going several days without food, water, or being permitted to make noise. Eventually, the unfathomable happened, and the Kalder’Ash Clan’s camp was attacked by the Orcs. Easily overpowered, the gypsies were no match and fell easily under the Bloodraged Orcs. With the ground soaked with her people’s blood, Maebh flew into a passionate rage and blew out her powers, enveloping the entire camp in Felfire that killed all the Orcs and surviving Roma in an instant. The only survivors were those within a small radius of her protection – her husband and two sons. Blood of an Innocent As Iloam grew into a teenager, his mother’s warlock powers had grown significantly and she was strongly addicted to fel power. Her demons struggled to overcome her bonds of them and she began to seek out ways to grow stronger under the worship of Kil’jaeden and the Old God, Hakkar. In pushing her powers further, she found a tome which described a voodoo spell that would unlock tremendous powers if she performed a ritual with the innocent blood of someone she loved. Knowing that she could not sacrifice herself or Iloam, as they were tainted with evil, she turned to her husband. Unable to bring herself to kill her beloved, she manipulated Iloam into killing his father with promises of her undying love and power to take up the reigns as the head of their family. Iloam performed admirably – ruthlessly beheading his father, who had never raised a hand to his sons – and brought the head to his mother. The ritual failed due to a badly translated spell, which had in fact stated that the innocent blood of a loved one needed to be Maebh’s own kin, and Maebh became enraged, denying Iloam the promises she had made. Not hours after murdering his own father, Maebh commanded Iloam to also murder his young brother, Keiran, and bring her his head. Angered by her manipulations, Iloam denied her request and instead kidnapped his own brother, fleeing with him deep into what would someday become the Ghostlands to hide him from her bloodthirst. The young Keiran, blissfully unaware of the events that had transpired that day, did not understand his brother’s actions and has not spoken a word since that day, over two hundred years ago. Young Adult Leaving his young brother to live off the land, Iloam headed to Tyr’s Hand to make gold as a pick pocket and gigolo amongst the bustling trade city. Most of his earnings went to sending food & supplies to Keiran while Iloam himself lived on the streets in poverty. A stoic and feared pirate, Captain Cor Grimtotem (one of very few Tauren who had wandered away from the plains of Mulgore in those times) took Iloam under his wing when the young boy showed a rare fearlessness to the strange, enormous beast on the streets of Tyr's Hand. As Iloam sailed with the pirate fleet, the two became secret lovers and developed a deep connection with each other. To this day, Iloam does not speak about this time in his life and repeatedly maintains that prior to taking on part of Ixinane Stormcren's soul, he had never been in love. It is unknown what happened to Cor and the pirate fleet, but Iloam eventually left the high seas to train as a professional rogue at Ravenholdt Manor, hidden amongst the hills of Hillsbrad. Rise in the Ranks Shortly after leaving Ravenholdt, Iloam was hired by Heulwen to assassinate the Troll Kolja Demsen, who was the only other person besides herself and Pukebile “PB” Blackmarrow who held the recipe for an elixir which could turn Blood Elves into Scourge. A recent number of murders had occurred in the Undercity with a mysterious serial killer dismembering victims in a particular way. Blackmarrow’s name was on the short list of suspects, and Heulwen hired Iloam to kill Kolja in this same manner and frame Blackmarrow. Instead, Iloam double-crossed Heulwen for the more lucrative offer from Blackmarrow – gold in exchange for the name of the person framing him, as well as scouting out anyone else who might have the recipe for the elixir. When Blackmarrow was unhappy with Iloam’s attitude and lack of finesse, he sent his henchman Zukka after him. Iloam managed to evade the first attempt at capture, but was eventually captured by Heulwen herself when she had returned to working with Blackmarrow. Heulwen brought Iloam to Blackmarrow deep in the Undercity sewers and urged her partner to outright kill the young rogue, but Blackmarrow had other plans. Instead, PB relished in the torture of Iloam - nailing him through the hands and feet to the Undercity sewer walls, removing his kneecaps, and cutting open his throat with the Rod of Molten flame so that he could not scream as the torture continued until Iloam eventually died. A warlock named Negal, but going by “Richard,” who had been lurking in the sewers overheard the ordeal, and once Blackmarrow had left, resurrected the rogue as his own puppet. He kept Iloam’s soul in a shard in order to control him against his will. Shortly after the resurrection, Blackmarrow’s henchman Zukka returned and tore off Iloam’s middle fingers in retaliation for his previous evasion. Ixinane Stormcren, a young Warlock and apprentice to Blackmarrow, set out to "deliver" a soulless Iloam to Blackmarrow to win his favor. An unexpected spark of lust between Iloam and Ixinane on their first meeting complicated matters considerably. Even more so, Liore Sunstorm, a former lover of both of Ixinane and Iloam both, interrupted their first meeting and convinced Iloam that Ixinane had been the one to send Zukka after him to collect his middle fingers. Manipulated, Iloam aided Liore in brutally kidnapping Ixinane and taking her to Blackmarrow in the Undercity for bragging rights on her capture. A bloody battle ensued between the four, resulting in all of them barely escaping with their lives. Iloam, set aflame, managed to jump into the sewers and float along the current until he was fished out by Liore and his lover, Himmel, a priest. His wounds were healed and he managed to narrowly escape death a second time - but Pukebile now had possession of his soulshard. With both Iloam's soulshard and a warlock who possessed the power to destroy it, Blackmarrow attempted to not just destroy Iloam's body but erase his very existence forever. His miscalculation in using a young, inexperienced warlock for the ritual cost him. Once the power of the fel magic took over Ixinane, she became drunk with power and rather than destroy the soul as commanded, she managed to consume half of it in a fit of defiance. Powerful and unknown magics came together and Ixinane's and Iloam's souls became entwined, mixing their memories, consciousness, and feelings as a link formed between them. During the ritual as Blackmarrow struggled with Ixinane, hundreds of miles away Iloam experienced a waking hypnosis and murdered the prostitute who had been sleeping peacefully next to him. Later, forged with a new, deeper understanding of each other, and with Ixinane fallen out of Blackmarrow's good graces, the two of them met in Feralas where Ixinane returned the second half of Iloam’s soul to him and they explored their new bond as well as the spark that had first brought them together. With his soul now entwined with Ixinane's, Iloam began to take on qualities never before experienced, including the ability to love, grief, and a conscience that would occasionally cause him guilt. Assassin Return of Pukebile Blackmarrow Category:Characters Category:Horde Category:Horde Rogue Category:Blood Elf